Hurricane Earl heads for Outer Banks

Storm disrupts Labor Day weekend plans as far north as Maine

By

MichelleDonley

WilliamSpain

ChristopherHinton

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Hurricane Earl, still a dangerous Category 3 storm, closed in on the North Carolina coast Thursday, prompting warnings and evacuation orders as the region braced for heavy rains and a dangerous storm surge.

Meteorologists predict the eye of the hurricane will hug the East Coast but remain at sea over the next few days, with the Middle Atlantic's outermost islands and New England's Cape Cod likely to take the worst lashing.

"The center of Earl will pass near the North Carolina Outer Banks tonight and be very near southeastern New England Friday night," the National Weather Service said Thursday, describing it as "a large and powerful" hurricane.

The weather service has issued a hurricane warning for communities from Bogue Inlet, N.C., to the North Carolina-Virginia border. Officials in some of North Carolina's seaside communities have issued evacuation orders aimed primarily at the thousands of visitors that would normally crowd beaches there for the Labor Day weekend.

A hurricane watch remained in effect from the North Carolina-Virginia border to Cape Henlopen, Del., and parts of Massachusetts, including Plymouth, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

The North Carolina coastline from Cape Fear to west of Bogue Inlet was under a tropical-storm warning, which also extended north of the North Carolina-Virginia border to Sandy Hook, N.J., and to the coast of Long Island, N.Y., from Fire Island inlet to Port Jefferson Harbor.

The weather service is also predicting a "dangerous storm surge will raise water levels as much as three to five feet above ground level within both warning areas and the lower Chesapeake Bay."

The surge will be "accompanied by large and destructive waves," it added.

Airlines serving the region, such as American parent AMR Corp.
AMR, +27.78%
US Airways Group
LCC, +0.99%
JetBlue Airways Corp.
JBLU, -6.05%
and AirTran Holdings Inc.
AAI, +0.00%
waived their fees for customers that want to change their itineraries.

Continental Airlines Inc.
CAL, -1.93%
canceled 50 regional departures in the Northeast and Delta Air Lines Inc.
DAL, -5.19%
said it cancelled five flights to North Carolina and Virginia.

"We will continue to monitor the track of the hurricane and communicate any additional operational impact in the morning, but at this time we have no delays or cancels planned for further up the East Coast," a Delta representative said.

Earl was packing winds of 115 miles an hour, according to a Thursday afternoon advisory from the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

A Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale is capable of causing "devastating damage" to structures, trees and power lines. There is also "a high risk of injury or death to people, livestock and pets due to flying and falling debris," the NHC said. "Nearly all older (pre-1994) mobile homes will be destroyed."

Earl had been upgraded to a Category 4 this week, but has begun to gradually weaken.

The storm continued to move north at 18 miles an hour, the NHC said, and was about 245 miles off Cape Hatteras, N.C., and 720 miles from Nantucket, Mass. as of 2 p.m. Eastern time Thursday. .

Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency Wednesday in Virginia.

"The current forecast has Hurricane Earl passing east of Virginia later this week. However, a change in the storm's path could bring hazardous weather conditions to eastern Virginia," he said. "This declaration is a precautionary move which will allow state agencies to be ready just in case resources are needed."

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